Where’s Waldobama? [Reader Post]

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The heaviest snowfall in six decades has largely paralyzed New York and the surrounding states.

Hundreds of airline passengers were stranded for up to 10 hours on the tarmac at overworked Kennedy Airport

City response to storm is slow

Anarchy may break out among stranded airline passengers

Woman waits 30 hours for ambulance after suffering a boken ankle

People are dying for lack of emergency response, including a newborn.

A large city Mayor is overwhelmed. Residents are whining.

There are reports of cannibalism in Madison Square Garden.

(Courtesy Drudge)

Sound familiar? It should.

That cannibalism thing might not really be true, but as Randall Robinson would say, I stand by the rest.

But where is Waldobama during this crisis?

Mele kalikimaka!

He can’t be bothered! He’s on vacation!

George Bush was roundly criticized for his actions following Katrina, but at least he did something. Barack Obama does nothing and escapes media scrutiny completely.

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Hehehe!
How true.

Obama extends Hawaiian vacation another day

http://www.staradvertiser.com/news/breaking/112629799.html

And WHY?

“…..the president is trying to squeeze in more time with his family before returning to the nation’s capital. ….”

I thought they all LIVED together in the White House.
Was I wrong????

Dr John, this is a KO, nice.

Are you seriously comparing this blizzard to Katrina?! This is not the first blizzard we’ve seen in New York, but it’s the worst prepared we’ve been in 20 years, because of the MAYOR’S budget cuts!

I’m pissed at the President for calling the Eagle’s owner, praising him for giving Michael Vick a second chance (as if any of us would be offered the same multi-million dollar job after such a crime – and no phone call for Josh Hamilton who overcame drug and alcohol addiction to become MLB MVP…) , but he has NOTHING to do with THIS!

DrJohn, thanks for the laugh.

Cary, you need to settle down. Somehow I don’t get the feeling you have ever been “pi&&ed” about anything this President has done.

@KansasGirl:

Thanks for putting me in check, Dorothy. (I actually LIVE in the place being discussed in this post, so “settling down” is not actually what I need, though I appreciate the advice…) The mayor is the one responsible for the mess here, and yes I voted for him.

Cary, my name is Barbara, just in case you were trying to be “cute”. I also noticed you didn’t dispute my claim about “El Presidente”.

@KansasGirl:

Barbara, I’m normally fairly reasonable person, as many here will tell you, but ad hominem attacks and condescension brings out the snark in me, sorry Barbara.

In response to your statement, I have not supported the President in everything he does. Nor is this post the first time I’ve said so on this site. The Eagles phone call was the most recent thing that upset me… before that, it was taking credit for the repealing of DADT, after fighting it, after pledging to do so. The bailout is another one. There, Barbara, I’ve answered your “question”.

Attempting to portray me personally as a partisan hack doesn’t serve for an intelligent discussion, Barbara.

So again, Barbara, with the mess we are seeing here, IN THE CITY WHERE I LIVE, the burden of responsibility lies on the shoulders of Mayor Michael Bloomberg. I will concede that that’s probably all I really should have said, Barbara.

Have a good night, Barbara.

@Cary:

Don’t show your azz Cary.

It’s unattractive.

PS…No one has used any “ad hominem” attacks in this thread.

@Aye:

LOL – I know! Sorry… (though I have been working out!) 😆

Cary, “worst prepared”, is that an example of New York superiority? Better not use that phrase in any serious writing; it will do for script work in Burbank, if you employ a Liberal sense of poetic license.

Couldn’t resist, how are those muscles coming along?

@Skookum: LOL that’s what I get for posting a first draft! Thankful for editors…. I’ve actually gained about 20 lbs (good weight) in the past 6 months!I

@Cary:

20 pounds??!! I’m working on that right now, eating everything in sight and then go out and buy more to gorge on(winter habit). 😳 Then will probably drop 8 lbs when gardening cranks up and gain 20 next year and then lose 7 pounds during gardening season, ugh, all not “good weight.” Will never see 112 lbs again.

Every week I buy broccoli, carrots, celery, fresh veggies for salads fresh fruit…and when my granddaughter shows up I send it all home with her. 🙄

Happy, healthy New Year Cary!

@Missy:

I was at 117 forever, and now after joining a gym, I’m up to 140. I’m slight framed and not tall, so I’m at pretty good weight now. I’ve always had a decent tone, but bulk has eluded me. I’m looking to gain about 20 more in the next couple of months. They say the camera adds weight, but that’s a bit misleading, it’s more about how angular one is.

Happy healthy new year to you, and everyone here, as well! 😀

Back on topic: there are an enormous amount of Liberal Democrats here in NYC who’ve been very vocal with disapproval towards Obama, for varying reasons. “Don’t blame me, I voted for Hillary” is a common mantra. We’re also unhappy that the roads are still yet to be cleared in many areas of the city, which should not be the case. I’ve lived here since 1990, and I’m originally from Syracuse, and I’ve never seen it this bad in either place. But nobody here is blaming Obama for this situation, it’s all laid on the mayor.

@DrJohn:

I agree with you there! So good to see the Eagles lose. Though I do disagree with the PA Governor… it was a wise decision by the Eagles and the NFL to postpone the game, in interest of public safety. While I’m sure the game could have been played, I would not want fans (especially in Philly, where fans have earned a reputation for being particularly rowdy and destructive, even when they win…) on the road to be there. (Not happy to see my Giants embarrass themselves twice in a row…)

I don’t have any idea why Obama didn’t call the Rangers for Hamilton, his story is very inspiring. In fact there are plenty of professional athletes with inspiring stories. As a Yankee fan, I can tell you that Joba Chamberlin came from a poor, broken home, and worked his way up to where he is. Jorge Posada has a special needs son, and started a foundation to help families with the same kinds of issues who are less fortunate, and just hit his 1000th RBI. Colin Curtis was diagnosed with Cancer in High School, and just hit his first Major League home run. Brian Wilson of the SF Giants lost his father to Cancer when he was 17, and makes a gesture honoring him when on the mound. Peyton Manning put family first and declined interviews after playing against (and beating) his younger brother. All of these, and I’m sure plenty more, are at the very least, equally worthy of a phone call from the President as Vick.

Nagin did actually get this kind of criticism, perhaps he should have gotten more. The mistake I think you’re making is with the comparison of the two events. Some unacceptable events did indeed happen here after the blizzard, but nowhere near the scope of New Orleans after Katrina. No public structures were damaged, nobody is being displaced for five plus years from their homes, and evacuation was not imperative. NYC was ill-prepared, unlike in the past under the same weather conditions, to remove the snow from roads. As a consequence, emergency vehicles were not able to get through and some tragedy resulted, which is horrible and unacceptable. Still, the snow is melting and we are getting along just fine. Nobody is rioting or looting (beyond normal), and nobody expects or is calling for FEMA, the National Guard, or Sean Penn to show up.

And at this point, I think Drew Brees is the Quarterback to beat!

The more cynical might say that Obama called Vick because he is black. I don’t know why he called and I don’t care. It’s still despicable.
Vick should have served more than 19 months.

Sanitation Department’s slow snow clean-up was a budget protest

Selfish Sanitation Department bosses from the snow-slammed outer boroughs ordered their drivers to snarl the blizzard cleanup to protest budget cuts — a disastrous move that turned streets into a minefield for emergency-services vehicles, The Post has learned.

Miles of roads stretching from as north as Whitestone, Queens, to the south shore of Staten Island still remained treacherously unplowed last night because of the shameless job action, several sources and a city lawmaker said, which was over a raft of demotions, attrition and budget cuts.

“They sent a message to the rest of the city that these particular labor issues are more important,” said City Councilman Dan Halloran (R-Queens), who was visited yesterday by a group of guilt-ridden sanitation workers who confessed the shameless plot.

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/sanit_filthy_snow_slow_mo_qH57MZwC53QKOJlekSSDJK#ixzz19bgedWn6

One woman and a baby died because emergency vehicles could not reach them. Horrible!, they had to know this would be a threat to people in the very community they live in.

@Missy:

Wow. That must’ve just gotten out. If people were refusing to do their jobs in protest of the Mayor, I think some Criminally Negligent Manslaughter charges are in order.

@Cary:

I was just up on Drudge, now they are reporting it on TV.

They definately need to go after those bosses first and make an example out of them. Out of what must have been hundreds, only five were “guilt-ridden” and came forward, two supervisors and three drivers, they don’t want to be identified for fear of retaliation. Horrendous!

If the unions were slow to respond, out of a sense of selfishness, Bloomberg should do a “Reagan”, and fire ALL of the Sanitation workers- after all, there are plenty of others who would be willing to work for a little less than the golden pay these nimrods get-
You see, this is the problem with unions- they try blackmail, when “doing a REALLY good job” would make their case more effectively- but then unions and their bosses have never been known for more advanced thought than that expected from someone with a uni-brow and protruding sub-orbital ridge.

Hard Right #17 Obama didn’t call Vick,he called Eagles owner Robert Lurie to congratulate him for giving Vick a second chance.He never condoned the horrendous things Vick did that led to his imprisonment.
I own 2 Golden Retrievers that are Family.I’m no fan of Vick.However the ” more cynical might say” your post smacks of racism.

rich wheeler, who either he called, he is showing the race card again,
leave Hardright out of it, because he see the same thing being repeated all over;
DIDN’T YOU KNOW, THAT THE FA group can see behind what is showing
at the surface, and they never miss, this one was a BULLSEYE ALSO,
and there’s more coming
BYE

Where is the outrage for 0-bama? The oil spill and now this?? If Bush where President the wacho liberals and the MSM would be having their usual hissy. Funny how things change when one of their losers gets elected Presdient. Thank goodness Republicans took back the House!! Now we can actually see what a loser 0-bama really is. Pelosi can’t hide it anymore.

Rich, I know who he called and it’s still sickening. It should not have happened.
I could also care less what other think of my post. I made clear I didn’t know why he called and that I didn’t approve. Save your games for someone else.

Common Sense, you feel better now that the Republicans have taken back the House? I don’t feel that safe. We need to circle the wagons and defeat the enemy. I am new to FA, but I feel I’m with like-minded people. I’m concerned that this administration considers us the enemy. Not to change the subject, but, Happy New Year to one and all. Be safe.

Apparently Obama is supposed to reimburse the costs cities and states pay to cover emergency vehicles and other security expenses while he is on a personal vacation.
Obama does NOT do this.

Last year, the Honolulu Police Department reports it spent $250,000 on overtime to guard the President. The city has yet to be reimbursed for any of the costs, a police spokesperson told Hawaii Reporter earlier this year.


MORE:

Hawaii Reporter estimates costs to taxpayers will at least include:

* Mrs. Obama’s early flight to Hawaii: $63,000 (White House Dossier)
* Obama’s round trip flight to Hawaii: $1 million (GAO estimates)
* Housing in beachfront homes for Secret Service and Seals in Kailua ($1,200 a day for 14 days): $16,800
* Costs for White House staff staying at Moana Hotel: $134,400 ($400 per day for 24 staff) – excluding meals and other room costs
* Police overtime: $250,000 (2009 costs reported by Honolulu Police Department)
* Ambulance: $10,000 (City Spokesperson)
* TOTAL COST: $1,474,200

UNKNOWN COSTS

* Rental of office building in Kailua on canal
* Security upgrades and additional phone lines
* Costs for car rentals and fuel for White House staff staying at Moana Hotel (Secret Service imports most of the cars used here to escort the president)
* Surveillance before the president arrives
* Travel costs for Secret Service and White House staff traveling ahead of the President

Rich, we have a red-nosed pitbull little girl that we would love to sic on Vick. She’s six months old and as smart a dog we’ve ever had. She was given to us by an old black man that we didn’t realize at the time that he was trying to save her from being bait for fighting. I will never forget the tears in his eyes when he walked away. He came back often until he knew she was safe. We love her more than she’ll ever know.

Agree with Cary that this is a local failing, and not the federal government’s fault. I do see where NJ declared a state of emergency, allowing them to take measures to close roads and make evacuations. I don’t see where NY did. Only when a state declares that emergency can they have funds reimbursed from the feds. And none of that will do anything to alleviate the woes during the event itself.

We have the same problem here in my small rural county, where our annual snowfall doesn’t doesn’t justify the city or county from maintaining the expense of fleets of snow removal equipment. Our county seat/largest town has a population of 12,000. When these events hit, the city hires on locals with tractors, backhoes and other equipment that does the trick to keep the towns and traffic moving as much as possible.

I guess backhoe owners in NYC aren’t a dime a dozen, eh? Poor planning on Bloomberg’s part.

Additionally, INRE Curt’s post about this possibly being a deliberate rebellion in response to budget cut backs… Gov. Paterson stated he’d be investigating such nefarious deeds, and Blooomberg only followed suit afterwards. But not before he declared such allegations were hogwash, saying ” I would send them out in the next storm without thinking twice.”

Maybe he needs to think more than twice in the future. Sure wish that guy would remove the R from behind his name…. it’s embarrassing. I put him up there in the bozo category with Louisiana’s Blanco and Nagin.

Bloomberg is the one that really messed up by letting it get ahead of him. By the time everything was put into action it was too late. Cars stranded everywhere, plows didn’t have anywhere to push the snow because auto owners didn’t move their cars. They would have to move them or they’d be towed if he would have just declared the snow emergency.

But, no transfats or salt, he can handle that. 🙄

Hard Right If you knew Obama called Lurie why did you say he called Vick?
Commen Sense would dictate Obama(or THE ONE as some here refer to him) didn’t bring the blizzard and it was N.Y. and N.J’s. resposibility to clean it up.
Ms Bees You say Obama is”showing the race card again.”Please explain.

That’s a typo Rich. Went back to check what I typed and saw I put Vick when I meant the head coach. Yes I goofed in what I typed, but I knew he didn’t call Vick. Multi-tasking can lead to mistakes like the one you pointed out.

I’m not speaking for Bees, but what I’ve seen around the web is that Obama took an interest in Vick because he was black. The reasons given is that Obama doesn’t like white people or has a chip on his shoulder regarding them. Usually cited is the church he attended for 20 years where they taught hatred towards whites and “black liberation” theology. Is Obama a racist? Not sure and only a guess can be made. I certainly don’t understand why he would call the coach about Vick considering there were other far more worthy candidates to hold up as examples of enduring and then triumphing.

Hard Right “OBAMA DOESN’T LIKE WHITE PEOPLE”

Hard Right If I was a lawyer I’d rest my case.

Sorry bout the double post.

Semper FI and Happy New Year to all

@rich wheeler:

Thank goodness you aren’t a lawyer. Context, context, context:

The reasons given is that Obama doesn’t like white people

Hard Right is paraphrasing from what he’s read, get it?

Now, I will quote directly from the State Senate Years chapter in the Stanley Kurtz book…Radical-In-Chief, Barack Obama and the Untold Story of American Socialism. Sprinkled throughout the book are instances of Obama’s racism and his preoccupation with race and class. PersonallyI think that’s why the Obamas have been so extravagant with the parties and travel, his snubbing of our old allies and the bowing and going soft on our enemies of color.

“….while Obama clearly recognizes the political benefits of race-neutral programs, he is by no means opposed to race-based politics. On the contrary, during his years in the Illinois State Senate, race-based policies were an Obama specialty. Political necessity may have forced Obama to downplay that approach during his presidency. Yet it’s worth noting that during his years as a state senator, Obama strongly supported race preferences, set-asides, and other race-based measures.

His entire career in the Illinois Senate was devoted to racial politics. His personal as well as political associations are a snapshot of who he is, was and always will be.

From before the 2008 election…..plenty of warning.

Barack Obama’s Lost Years

As details of Obama’s early political career emerge into the light, his associations with such radical figures as Reverend Jeremiah Wright, Father Michael Pfleger, Reverend James Meeks, Bill Ayers, and Bernardine Dohrn look less like peculiar instances of personal misjudgment and more like intentional political partnerships. At his core, in other words, the politician chronicled here is profoundly race-conscious, exceedingly liberal, free-spending even in the face of looming state budget deficits, and partisan. Elected president, this man would presumably shift the country sharply to the left on all the key issues of the day-culture-war issues included.

One incident among many:

The Ayers-Dohrn-Obama nexus was jolted into action in late 1997 and early 1998, when a major juvenile justice reform bill was introduced in the Illinois General Assembly. Written by prosecutors and sponsored by a Republican ex-prosecutor, the bill was neither simplistic nor partisan. Well aware of evidence that sending juveniles to adult prisons can backfire and actually raise recidivism rates, sponsors met rehabilitation-minded critics halfway. The proposed bill was an early example of “blended sentencing,” in which juveniles who have committed serious crimes are given both a juvenile sentence and a parallel adult sentence. So long as the offender keeps his nose clean, doesn’t violate parole, and participates in community-based rehabilitation, he never has to serve his adult sentence. But if the offender violates the provisions of his juvenile sentence, the adult punishment kicks in. That gives young offenders a powerful incentive to do right, and puts toughness at the service of offering kids a second chance.

Blended sentencing is generally viewed as an innovative compromise. To those on the far left, however, blended sentencing is just another mean-spirited “get tough” crime measure in disguise. That’s why, when the Illinois blended sentencing bill was introduced in 1997, both Obama and Bernardine Dohrn were cited by the Chicago Sun-Times as key local critics of the bill. Steven A. Drizin, an associate of Dohrn’s center (who is thanked in Ayers’s book) was a member of the study commission that helped produce the bill, yet remained an energetic critic, not only of blended sentencing, but of nearly every other prosecutor-favored provision in the bill.

Meanwhile, Obama worked closely with the Illinois Black Legislative Caucus to slow the bill’s progress, expressing skepticism about the blended sentencing provisions. While one report speaks of Obama negotiating with Cook County state’s attorney Richard Devine for a compromise, there is good reason to believe that Obama’s actual aim was to scuttle the entire bill. We have this on the authority of someone who may very well be Michelle Obama herself. Michelle Obama organized a University of Chicago panel about Bill Ayers’s crime book in November 1997, just as the battle over the juvenile justice bill was heating up. That panel featured appearances by some of the key figures discussed in Ayers’s book, along with Obama himself, who was identified in the press release as “working to block proposed legislation that would throw more juvenile offenders into the adult system.” In effect, then, this public event was a joint Obama-Ayers effort to sink the juvenile justice bill-Obama’s decision to plug Ayers’s book in the Chicago Tribune the following month was part of the same political effort.

In January 1998, a front-page headline in the Defender touted Obama’s claim that the juvenile justice bill might be on the verge of failure. Obama hoped that black caucus opposition to the sentencing provisions might be matched by concerns among some Republicans that the bill could force expensive jail construction (based on the prospect that the deterrent effect of blended sentencing might fail, thereby forcing more juveniles into adult prisons). Obama’s hopes were wildly off-base. In the end, the juvenile justice bill passed overwhelmingly. Given his ambitions for higher office, Obama was no doubt reluctant to vote against the final bill. A last-minute, minor and uncontroversial adjustment to the blended-sentencing provisions by the governor appears to have provided enough political cover for the bill’s sharpest critics including Obama to come around and support it.

Also in 1998, according to the Hill, a Washington newspaper, Obama was one of only three Illinois state senators to vote against a proposal making it a criminal offense for convicts on probation or on bail to have contact with a street gang. A year later, on a vote mandating adult prosecution for aggravated discharge of a firearm in or near a school, Obama voted “present,” and reiterated his opposition to adult trials for even serious juvenile offenders. In short, when it comes to the issue of crime, Obama is on the far left of the political spectrum and very much in synch with his active political allies Ayers and Dohrn.

Obama’s signature crime legislation was his effort to combat alleged racial discrimination by the Illinois police. In 2003, the Defender said Obama had “made a career” out of his annual battle for a bill against racial profiling. For years, profiling legislation was bottled up by the Illinois senate’s Republican leader. When senate control shifted to the Democrats in 2003, Obama’s racial profiling bill finally passed-just in time to give his drive for the U.S. Senate nomination a major boost. At the time, Obama touted his profiling bill as “a model for the nation.” It’s also said that Obama showed a willingness to listen to police during the negotiations that led to the final bill. With the Democrats in control, however, the police had little choice but to work with Obama. As Obama himself made clear at the time, the police never abandoned their opposition to the bill.

Police doubts were entirely justified. Obama’s bill is a deeply flawed example of precisely the sort of grievance-driven race-based politics that fuels legislation on affirmative action and minority set-asides. All of these “remedies” falsely leap from statistical evidence of racial disparities to claims of discrimination. In the case of racial profiling, disproportionate police stops of black or Hispanic motorists in no way prove discrimination.

http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/015/386abhgm.asp?page=1

Rich, I was jury foreman on a kidnap, multiple assault, and multiple sexual assault trial. The defense attorney rested his case when he thought he had won too. His client got 60+ years.

Missy is right, good thing you aren’t a lawer. You are however, a deliberately blind liberal.

@rich wheeler:

Sorry bud, but I’m leaning largely towards agreeing with Hard Right on this one. He never, at least here on this thread, called Obama a racist or said that Obama “hates white people”. He said that some people might think that Obama called about Vick because he’s black. That’s not a racist statement, nor does the racial motive occurring to me, make ME racist.

It’s not a far stretch to consider that, as a black man, Obama has a particular empathy for the struggles of a black man. I can understand that perspective and appreciate it without thinking Obama is racist. My problem is that Vick hasn’t really struggled, wasn’t the victim of injustice, and got off quite light compared to what others would have received had they committed the same crime. Nor do I think that he should be held up as an example to others who actually are struggling. That’s what made me angry about the call. It was BS. (I wonder if Obama would give Vick a chance watching Bo…)

It’s hard not to think that Obama’s motives were from a racial perspective, we all see things through our own experiences. But I think it would be hard to find someone who disagrees with me that Josh Hamilton is the most inspiring sports figure of 2010, and I say that not only as a Yankee fan, but also as someone who rooted for the SF Giants. He’s the one who deserves to be held up as an inspiring example to others, and the one who should be recognized by our leaders.

Cary: It’s not a far stretch to consider that, as a black man, Obama has a particular empathy for the struggles of a black man. I can understand that perspective and appreciate it without thinking Obama is racist.

That’s true, Cary. And another example of that is the special list the WH compiled in an email to highlight the specific benefits to Black families in extending the Bush tax policies. Is this a racist move, approaching a particular group of constituents with benefits based on their race? Not in a negative sense. It’s a sorry state that so many still prefer to classify themselves via color instead of nationality, but that’s the results of the class warfare that’s been hyped by the Dem party for decades. We’re all some class or category to them, so that’s how politicians form their talking points… based on the “group think”. He’d do the same if he were talking to veterans and their families, or a women’s club.

Obama’s just a typical opportunist politician, attempting to regather his disgruntled base after speaking out of both sides of his forked tongue.

Obama is like Dirty Harry- he is an equal opportunity bigot- this is more because as a rabid narcissist he is unable to actually HAVE any real empathy for anyone. People are just tools to be used, in whatever context he needs. Most liberals/ socialists are that way, for they truly believe that they are the elite, and everyone else is ignorant of reality, when really the reverse is the truth.
Bill Clinton was the same way- his “I feel your pain” was, in my eyes, one of the most boldly stated lies I believe I have ever heard- at least until Obama came to power.

A lot of liberals agree with you. His “evolving” feeling on Marriage Equality is taken simply to mean, “I’m waiting until it is politically advantageous to me to take a stance on this. After all, it’s not like I ever said anything against politics as usual.”

My most politically proactive gay activist friends are quite vocally furious with him over it.

Cary- Mr. Obama is what Robert Heinlein called “an Idealist” politician- he specified two types of Politicians, the other being the “Business” politician, and of the two, he said the “Business ” pol was to be trusted more, because while they might steal some out of the treasury, it wouldn’t break the bank, and he knew that his word was his ultimate collateral, thus he would keep his promises, while the “Idealist” pol would shift with the blowing winds of whatever poll was in vogue, thus changing his stance, and vaporizing any “principles” he might have professed.
Of the two, I myself would prefer the “business” politician, as I would like to know when I go to sleep at night, that when I wake in the morning, I haven’t slipped down the “rabbithole” of some progressive’s slippery and shifting ideals.

Happy New Year and congrats to Curt on new format.
Quick look back. Dr J “that cannibalism thing MIGHT not really be true” Damn you think? My brother’s family lives in N.Y.C. on W.106th and Broadway.To compare this storm to Katrina especially in terms of casualties is ridiculous.
Hard Right Lurie is the owner not the head coach.I’m pretty sure if I was the defense lawyer and saw you as jury foreman I’d attempt an early plea bargain.
Today’s Pres polls Rasmussen Appr.47% Dis 52% Gallup A 47 D 45 CNN A 48 D 48 The more things change the more they remain the same.